LED ZEPPELIN - IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR "F", MINT FIRST PRESSING
£
77
$
92
£ 77
Sold For
May 29, 2012
Sold Date
May 19, 2012
Start Date
£ 4
Start price
9
Number Of Bids
Great BritainCountry Of Seller
eBay
Auctioned at
Favourite Auctions
To save auctions to your favourites, please login
If you don't have an account, please register
Description
YOU ARE BIDDING FOR led ZEPPELIN’S EIGTH STUDIO ALBUM WITH THE RARE “F” VARIANT. MAKE NO MISTAKE, THIS ALBUM IS ULTRA RARE, IN ABSOLUTE PRISTINE CONDITION THROUGHOUT AND PLAYS LIKE A DREAM. I DOUBT YOU WILL FIND SUCH A PERFECT SPECIMEN FOR ITS AGE (33 YEARS OLD) AND STILL IN ITS ORIGINAL OUTER WRAPPER.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
UNIQUE FEATURES
THIS ALBUM, STILL IN THE ORIGINAL, CELLOPHANE OUTER WRAPPING, HAS THE VERY RARE, FIRST PRESSING, HAND ETCHED MATRIX NUMBERS OF A-5, B-5 (WHERE THE 4 HAS BEEN SCRATCHED OUT AND REPLACED WITH A 5). THE WAX OUTRUNS ALSO HAVE “STRAWBERRY” ETCHED ON BOTH SIDES, NUMBER 2 ON SIDE 1 AND LETTER F ON SIDE 2. ALSO, THE HAND ETCHED SERIAL AND MATRIX NUMBERS ARE PRECEDED BY S-71 AND S-4 ON THE RESPECTIVE SIDES. LASTLY, THIS PARTICULAR ALBUM IS VARIANT “F” IN THE SERIES OF 6 VERSIONS OF THIS ALBUM MAKING THIS THE RAREST VARIANT AND EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO COME BY AT ALL, ESPECIALLY IN SUCH PRISTINE CONDITION AND WITH SUCH OUTSTANDING SOUND QUALITY.
RARITY IS ONE THING, AND QUITE OFTEN THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THE PRICE OF SUCH A MASTERPIECE, HOWEVER, QUALITY OF SOUND IS ALSO OF PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE. SO I THEREFORE ASK, WHAT IS THE POINT OF BUYING A RARE ARTEFACT IF THE SOUND QUALITY IS SUBSTANDARD. ON TOP OF THIS, MANY EXAMPLES OF THIS MASTERPIECE WERE PLAYED TO DEATH AND THE FLIMSY, UNLAMINATED SLEEVES AND THIN INNER SLEEVE HAD THE HELL BASHED OUT OF THEM AND ARE DIRTY AND DISHEVELED. NOT THIS ONE.
YOU ARE THEREFORE BIDDING, NOT ONLY FOR THE RARITY OF THIS PACKAGE BUT ALSO THE SOUND QUALITY THAT SUGGESTS THAT THIS VERY ITEM COULD BE FRESH OFF THE SHELF OF THE NEAREST HMV STORE WITH VERY MINIMAL PLAY AND THE WHOLE PACKAGE HAS BEEN LOVINGLY CARED FOR AND CHERISHED. THE SOUND IS LOUD, CRISP, CLEAR, DYNAMIC AND UNDISTORTED UNLIKE SO MANY OTHER COPIES OUT THERE.
I THEREFORE CONCLUDE THAT THIS INVESTMENT GRADE PIECE OF HISTORY SHOULD COMMAND THE PRICE IT DESERVES FROM THE VERY LUCKY WINNING BIDDER.
VINYL
AS MENTIONED EARLIER, MATRICES OF A-5, B-5 AND CATALOGUE SSK 89400, THE PLAYING SURFACE GRADES VISUALLY AS MINT (YES MINT) WITH NO VISIBLE BLEMISHES IN STRONG LIGHT AND DAYLIGHT (EXCEPT FOR THE SLIGHTEST, BARELY NOTICEABLE WISPY TRACES FROM INSERTION AND REMOVAL FROM THE INNER SLEVE). THIS TO ME INDICATES VERY LITTLE PLAY (WHICH IS EVIDENT FROM OTHER CHARECTERISTICS). ALSO, BY SIGHT AND ROTATION ON AN AUDIO TURNTABLE, THE VINYL SHOWS NO VISIBLE SIGNS OF WARPING.
AUDIBLY THE ALBUM IS NEAR MINT AND SUFFERS ONLY THE SLIGHTEST OF SURFACE NOISE, ATTRIBUTABLE MORE TO STATIC THAN SURFACE WEAR, AND IS A COMPLETE JOY TO LISTEN TO. I WOULD SAY DEEP CLEANING FROM ONE OF THE PROFESSIONAL VINYL CLEANERS WOULD RENDER THIS ALBUM BRAND NEW. EVEN QUIET PASSAGES AND INBETWEEN TRACKS (USUALLY A DEAD GIVE AWAY), THERE IS NO HISSING OR CRACKLING WHICH IS VIRTUALLY UNHEARD OF WITH THIS ALBUM.
LABELS
THE LABELS ARE CLEAN, UNFADED AND DISPLAY MINIMAL PLAYS WITH JUST A HANDFUL OF FAINT SPINDLE LINES ON SIDE 2 AND NONE THAT I CAN SEE ON SIDE 1. PERFECTION.
SLEEVES
THE OUTER COVER IS STILL COVERED BY THE ORIGINAL, CLEAR CELLOPHANE WRAPPING WHICH ITSELF IS DOING WELL TO STILL BE IN TACT BUT HAS DONE ITS JOB IN PROTECTING THE BROWN PAPER OUTER COVER. WHILST THE BROWN BAG IS SLIGHTLY CRIMPED DOWN ONE EDGE WHERE THE CELLOPHANE HAS NIPPED IT, IT IS OTHERWISE CLEAN, UNDAMAGED AND ABSOLUTELY AS NEW. VERY RARE FOR THIS ALBUM. THE TOP EDGE STILL HAS ALL ITS SERRATIONS BUT IS SLIGHTLY CREASED FROM ENTERING THE SLEEVE AND STORAGE.
THE OUTER SLEEVE IS ABSOLUTELY MINT WITH NO MARKS, BLEMISHES, FEATHERING OR SCUFFING. THE SPINE AS NEW, PERFECTLY SQUARE AND WRITING COMPLETELY IN TACT AND LEGIBLE. VERY SLIGHT SURFACE CREASING TO THE REAR, BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER BUT STILL EASILY THE BEST I’VE SEEN BY A MILE. THE SPINE BEARS THE RARE “F” TOTHE LEFT HAND SIDE.
THE INNER SLEEVE (OBVIOUSLY WISELY NEVER HAVING BEEN USED TO STORE THE VINYL INSIDE) IS ABSOLUTELY MINT. EVEN SELDOM USAGE OFTEN RENDERS THIS DELICATE SLEEVE GRUBBY AND WORN WITH ITS EXTREMELY POROUS SURFACE. NOT THIS ONE. SO RARE TO FIND IN SUCH PERFECT CONDITION. MINT. THIS “MAGIC WASH” SLEEVE IS ALSO EXTREMELY SENSITIVE AND REACTIVE TO MOISTURE OF ANY TYPE; ANOTHER REASON THAT THIS IS SUCH A RARE FIND IN THIS CONDITION.
PACKAGING
IT IS MY DUTY AS A CONSCIENTIOUS SELLER, TO PROVIDE THE BEST POSSIBLE PACKAGING AVAILABLE IN ORDER TO PROETCT YOUR VALUABLE INVESTMENT ITEM. AS SUCH, THE ITEM WILL BE ENCASED IN A CRUCIFORM, CARD MAILER WITH CARD STIFFENER INSERTS TO FURTHER PROTECT FROM DAMAGE. A FURTHER STIFFENER WILL BE INSERTED INTO THE OUTER SLEEVE (IN PLACE OF THE VINYL) TO PREVENT CRUSHING OF THE SPINE. THE VINYL WILL BE HOUSED IN A SEPERATE WHITE INNER TO PRESERVE THE ORIGINAL INNER AND PROTECT FROM KNIFING. THE PACKAGE WILL BE CLEARLY MARKED AND DISPLAY FRAGILE STICKERS AND A RETURN ADDRESS IN CASE OF LOSS.
THE PREFERABLE MEANS OF POSTAGE, WHETHER HOME OR ABROAD, WILL BE INSURED AND SIGNED FOR.
REPRESENTATION
AS I AM OFFERING GUARANTEED QUALITY WITH A MONEY BACK GUARANTEE, SHOULD THE ITEM NOT BE AS DESCRIBED, I ENDEAVOUR TO REPRESENT THE ITEM AS ACCURATELY AS POSSIBLE SO AS TO PRESERVE MY REPUTATION AND MY 100% FEEDBACK RATING. aS SUCH, I ENDEAVOUR TO DESCRIBE THE ITEM 100% ACCURATELY BOTH VERBALLY AND VISUALLY. THIS BEEN THE REASON I HAVE INVESTED IN A STATE OF THE ART DIGITAL SLR CAMERA (18 MEGAPIXEL) AND STUDIO LIGHTING. THAT SAID, IF YOU REQUIRE ANY FURTHER INFORMATION OR IMAGES WHILST THE AUCTION IS STILL IN PROGRESS, EMAIL ME AND I WILL RESPOND AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AND AS HONESTLY AS POSSIBLE.
POSTAGE COSTS
1ST CLASS RECORDED - £4.50 WITH INSURANCE UP TO £50.
HOWEVER, SOULD THE PRICE EXCEDE £50 THE FOLLOWING WILL APPLY:-
UK NEXT DAY SIGNED FOR WITH UP TO £500 INSURANCE AND TRACKING - £7.55
EUROPE INTERNATIONAL SIGNED FOR WITH £500 INSURANCE - £14.37
rEST OF WORLD INTERNATIONAL SIGNED FOR WITH £500 INSURANCE AND TRACKING - £19.50
PLEASE NOTE, THESE ARE ACTUAL POSTAGE COSTS AND DO NOT INCLUDE PACKAGING. I AM NOT AIMING TO MAKE EXTRA ON POSTAGE BUT WILL CHOOSE THE MOST EFFICIENT AND SAFESET METHOD OF TRANSIT. I’M SURE YOU WILL UNDERSTAND AND SANCTION THIS DECISION.
ALBUM NOTES
In Through the Out Door is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was recorded over a three week period in November and December 1978 at ABBA's Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, and released by Swan Song Records on 15 August 1979. In Through the Out Door was the band's sixth and final studio release to reach the top of the charts in America, and was the last released by the band before the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980.
Background
The album was named by the group to describe its recent struggles amidst the death of Robert Plant's son Karac in 1977, and the taxation exile the band took from the UK. The exile resulted in the band being unable to tour on British soil for over two years, and trying to get back into the public mind was therefore like "trying to get in through the 'out' door."
In contrast to previous Led Zeppelin albums, In Through the Out Door features much greater influence on the part of bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones and vocalist Robert Plant, and relatively less from drummer John Bonham and guitarist Jimmy Page. Two songs from the album—"South Bound Saurez" and "All My Love"—were the only two original Led Zeppelin songs that Jimmy Page had no part in writing. With the exception of "Darlene," a boogie-woogie based song credited to all band members (which was eventually released on the 1982 album, Coda), Bonham did not receive writing credits for any of the songs recorded at Polar Studios. This diminished input by Page and Bonham is attributed to the two band members often not showing up on time at the recording studio, with Bonham struggling with alcoholism and Page battling heroin addiction. As Jones said, "there were two distinct camps by then, and we [Plant and I] were in the relatively clean one."
Many of the songs were consequently put together by Plant and Jones during the day, with Page and Bonham adding their parts late at night. According to Jones, this was
mainly because I had a new toy. I had this big new keyboard. And Robert and I just got to rehearsals early, basically... So Robert and I, by the time everybody turned up for rehearsals, we’d written three or four songs. So we started rehearsing those immediately, because they were something to be getting on with.
Following the recording sessions at Polar Studios, the album was mixed at Page's personal studio at his home in Plumpton. "Wearing and Tearing", "Ozone Baby" and "Darlene" were recorded during sessions for this album, but were dropped because of space constraints. All later appeared on Coda.
Album sleeve design
The original album featured an unusual gimmick: the album had an outer sleeve which was made to look like a plain brown paper bag, and the inner sleeve featured black and white line artwork which, if washed with water, would become permanently fully coloured. There were also six different sleeves featuring a different pair of photos (one on each side; see images at right), and the external brown paper sleeve meant that it was impossible for record buyers to tell which sleeve they were getting. (There is actually a code on the spine of the album jacket which indicated which sleeve it was—this could sometimes be seen while the record was still sealed.) The pictures all depicted the same scene in a bar (in which a man burns a Dear John letter), and each photo was taken from the separate point of view of someone who appeared in the other photos. The bar is the Absinthe Bar, located at 400 Bourbon Street in New Orleans, LA. The walls are covered with thousands of yellowed business cards and dollar bills. It was re-created in a London studio for the album sleeve design.
The album artwork was designed by Hipgnosis. Storm Thorgerson recalls the design in his book Eye of the Storm:
The sepia quality was meant to evoke a non-specific past and to allow the brushstroke across the middle to be better rendered in colour and so make a contrast. This self same brushstroke was like the swish of a wiper across a wet windscreen, like a lick of fresh paint across a faded surface, a new look to an old scene, which was what Led Zeppelin told us about their album. A lick of fresh paint, as per Led Zeppelin, and the music on this album... It somehow grew in proportion and became six viewpoints of the same man in the bar, seen by the six other characters. Six different versions of the same image and six different covers.
Did you ever notice you could affect the dust jacket by putting water on it? If you applied spittle to it or a bit of water, it would change colour, like a children's colouring book we based it on. But we didn't tell anybody. I don't think Zeppelin told anybody, either.
In 1980, Hipgnosis were nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of best album package for In Through the Out Door.
Release and critical reaction
The album was intended to be released before the band's twin concerts at Knebworth in 1979, but production delays meant that it was released shortly after their performances at this event. Plant jokingly referred to the delays at times during the performance on 4 August.
Despite receiving poor reviews, the album went to No. 1 on Billboard's chart in its second week on the chart. On this album's release, Led Zeppelin's entire catalogue made the Billboard 200 between the weeks of 23 October and 3 November 1979, an unprecedented feat. The album remained on the US top spot for seven weeks and sold three million copies by the end of September 1979. It is also the Led Zeppelin album that has been most weeks on the top of the charts (tied along with Led Zeppelin II). To date, the album has sold six million copies in the US.
Following its release, Plant, Page and Bonham all expressed reservations about the album. In 1990 Plant stated:
In Through The Out Door wasn't the greatest thing in the world, but at least we were trying to vary what we were doing, for our own integrity's sake. Of all the [Led Zeppelin] records, it's interesting but a bit sanitised because we hadn't been in the clamour and chaos for a long time. In '77, when I lost my boy, I didn't really want to go swinging around – 'Hey hey mama say the way you move' didn't really have a great deal of import any more. In Through The Out Door is more conscientious and less animal.
Similarly, in an interview he gave to Guitar World magazine in 1998, Page stated that he and Bonham:
... both felt that In Through the Out Door was a little soft. I wasn't really keen on "All My Love". I was a little worried about the chorus. I could just imagine people doing the wave and all of that. And I thought, that's not us. That's not us. In its place it was fine, but I wouldn't have wanted to pursue that direction in the future.
Years later, Page elaborated that "we wanted, after In Through the Out Door, to make something hard-hitting and riff-based again. Of course, we never got to make that album. " He is also quoted as saying "It wasn't the most comfortable album. I think it was very transitional... a springboard for what could have been.
In Through the Out Door was Led Zeppelin's final album to be released while the band was together. Drummer John Bonham died the next year on 25 September 1980.
Track listing
All songs written by John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant except where noted.
Side one
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "In the Evening" 6:49
2. "South Bound Saurez" Jones, Plant 4:12
3. "Fool in the Rain" 6:12
4. "Hot Dog" Page, Plant 3:17
Side two
1. "Carouselambra" 10:32
2. "All My Love" Jones, Plant 5:51
3. "I'm Gonna Crawl" 5:30
Personnel
Led Zeppelin
- Jimmy Page – acoustic and electric guitar, production
- Robert Plant – lead vocals
- John Paul Jones – bass guitar, keyboards
- John Bonham – drums
Additional personnel
- Jeff Ocheltree – drum tech w/ John Bonham
- Barry Diament – mastering (original Compact Disc release)
- Peter Grant – executive producer
- Hipgnosis – record sleeve
- Leif Mases – engineering
- George Marino – remastered Compact Disc release
- Lennart Östlund – assistant engineering
price rating